Beth Rags, I'm glad that your son enjoys his travels in Idaho. I've traveled there, as well, when my brother lived there for the navy and once when my husband and I traveled there. I found it to be a very diverse landscape state. Some areas had beautiful mountainous wilderness, while others looked almost like desert land.

I woke up fairly early, but not too early Eastern time. It was nice to open the window because the house was stale-smelling. It is also nice to hear the sounds of nature (crickets, certain birds). You know, those sounds are different where I'll move to in Europe. It's kind of interesting how NJ/PA rural areas are like comparative jungles. Though I did see/hear wildlife in Czech Republic, there isn't the dense population there as in some parts of NJ/PA. Perhaps that's just the case or maybe since habitat is less in NJ/PA, the "living population" of animals/birds/bugs are just larger in such areas, and therefore more noticeable.

I got on the scale and found that I only gained 0.6 lbs over the course of my almost 3-week vacation. Not bad, I think. Actually, I believe I had even lost some weight there, but managed to gain some of it back towards the end.